Daliea Redman set up the Rye and District Dementia Action Alliance (RDDAA) last May because she felt it was very important for Rye to become familiarised with a growing problem affecting currently 820,000 people in the UK. This figure will rise as the available care and cost for this will become more limited in the future. The RDDAA believes that care will fall increasingly on the families and community they live in.
RDDAA wants to make pe
ople aware that help is out there and just how much an individual can achieve with the right care and patience. The members and Dementia Champions (they need more) pledge to bring about a dementia friendly community and their focus is on quality of life and inclusion through the awareness of people with Dementia.
The party at the Tilling Green Community Centre on May 20 was to celebrate a year of talks and awareness work to bring their message to the community. It was a fun afternoon. People from ARRCC (Activities, Respite, Rehabilitation Care Centre) and various other organisations either with dementia or other disabilities were present as well as two Rye town councillors and the Mayor as well as people from various walks of life in Rye. We were entertained by the Sunset Singers (a choir consisting of dementia sufferers), Jackie Purser on guitar and Liz Gange who leads the choir. It was a great sing song with all of us joining in, so many knew the words of the old songs.
Photos: Ray Prewer